By Bud McKague (1935-2002)
In the winter Okanagan In the old days of horse loggin’, When the skid teams come a 'foggin’, I can hear their tug chains still. And the faller, was a bawler, And you should of heard him holler, “Timber!” down the mountain; You could hear it at the mill. And the bucker, that old sucker, Well, he was a real limb chucker, But sometimes he’d get to cussin’, And it’s like I hear him still. On a cool and frosty mornin’ When them beads of sweat is formin’, But you’re workin’ to a rhythm, That’s how loggin’ used to be. Wit hte old cross-cut a singin’, And the fallers’ wedges ringin’, And the sounds of snappin’ branches; They are sounds that used to be… “Horse Loggin’, Okanagan” was excerpted from The Silent Partner (& Other Cowboy Poetry) by Bud McKague. Bud was a skookum bronc rider in his time, and a celebrated cowboy poet. In 2001, he was inducted into the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame.